Oh what a fun week. Today was the pinnacle.

This morning I had a very important exam, in town, so I studied until late last night, slept a little then got up early and went to town. Very hard to concentrate with all of the face-ache drama going on but, I think I passed.

After the exam I was desperate to get home but narrowly missed my train and had to wait an hour for the next one. Oh well, right? Then the train failed to board for almost half an hour and a couple of hundred passengers stood on the platform grumbling. It turned out, the emergency power was faulty in one of the carriages and, that meant that if there was a power failure, the lights in that carriage wouldn't have worked (and it was daytime so who freaking cares??). The conducter was grumbling and sounded well sick of the driver. So we boarded the train and about 20 minutes into the journey we stopped and the driver announced that "there is a fire ahead and we have to wait for the fire authorities to come and give us clearance to proceed". Well we all thought this was pretty weird as there was no smoke and no-one could find any fires near us on the bushfire app on their phones but nonetheless we sat there, locked in the train (we weren't allowed to disembark as we were not at a station and 'it's not safe"). I was getting really agitated in the end and was just about ready to make a scene to be let out because I REALLY take exception to being told I must remain locked in a train that isn't going anywhere for an indefinite amount of time.

SO after 40 minutes of sitting still we were 'cleared" to proceed (at low speed through the fire affected area) and what we encountered a short way up ahead was the "fire". Off to the side of the track, in an orchard, a farmer had been burning stuff on a small and controlled bonfire. As this is not strictly legal at this time of year the driver had called the fire brigade and the police and then had 240 commuters sit stagnant so that she could do her civic duty and report a farmer for breaching a stupid bylaw and have his bonfire extinguished by a fire truck. The fire was no-where near the train and was about as dangerous as...well, a small bonfire tended by an experienced farmer....sigh. To be in any danger we would have all had to have disembarked, run for 5 minutes towards the fire and then thrown ourselves into it and rolled around. And even the it probably would have gone out. Unless we had all doused ourselves in petrol first. But, hey, we could have done that and I guess she was just planning for any and all contingencies, right?

Anyway, never mind. The towering inferno was finally contained and we slowly chugged past....only to come to another stop 10 minutes later. the driver announced that we could not proceed as there were 'trespassers on the tracks" and she needed to get clearance from the police to safely proceed. (This is a country train obviously. She'd seen someone cross the tracks ahead in the distance- you know, as people do in the country... and so once again the police were called and we sat and sat and sat and then once more proceeded at low speed "in case the trespassers were still around".

I've not exaggerated a moment of this incident, it was the most freaking ridiculous train ride I've ever been a part of. Numerous trains were banked up behind us and my 1 hour train journey took 3 hours to complete. I was so cross. OMG. 

So anyway, I was looking forward to getting home and taking tomorrow off but that isn't to be either.

Daughter has been at Faceaches the last 5 days and is very unhappy, as I mentioned. He's worked every day and she's spent 3 days at home with his mother in law, and 2 days going to work with him, where she says, she sat in his car by herself all day and did nothing. thrillsville.

When she agreed to go to his house he stipulated that a)he was having the week off to spend with her and b)he would bring her home "on the weekend or sooner if she wanted to come home". His exact words. So I was expecting her home tomorrow evening, after spending a nice week with her dad. Nope.

She's been calling and texting me asking me to get her, and has said that her stepmother has been giving her hell again, ranting lectures about how 'she's doing nothing with her life" and "she's going no-where" etc. for the love of God the child just turned 13, she's in the advanced program at school, thriving socially, learning an extra language, has a job (she's taken over one of my paper delivery rounds) and basically she's one of the most upwardly mobile tweenagers I've ever seen. So what is this cow's problem?

Anyway I asked Faceache when he was bringing her home and he said 'you can come and get her sometime next week" and then he sent several more texts which I recognised immediately were designed to bait me. I didn't respond. Daughter wants to come home. She's told him that in no uncertain terms and apparently she was screamed at for 'being selfish" (for wanting to not spend her term holidays alone in a car?)

Anyway there's more, like taking her phone (which she and i pay for, they have nothing to do with it), telling her she "spends all day on it" (what else is she meant to do there??) and basically they are just being gigantic jerks to her which makes my blood boil.

I said i would go and get her today after my exam and he said that would not be possible as she would be with him all day (he's working). He's making it as difficult as possible for her to leave and for me to get her. It's a very long way to go and if he won't agree to be there when I arrive well....same old dance, sigh. So this morning I arranged for my mother (she drives past his house on the way home from her beach property) to collect daughter tomorrow and I will meet her at her house. Its just as far away for me but, it means I don't have to interact with faceache at all, and it also means he won't try to pull any nonsense because he doesn't dare with my mother for some reason. 

And once we had it worked out, I thought, this is very different to 2 years ago. I would have easily been drawn into a text-fight with him and lost it completely and I would probably have messaged Mrs faceache and lost it with her as well. Especially now that I have to go and collect her tomorrow when it was his turn to bring her back. I also would have thrown a wobbly and demanded to be let off the train in the middle of nowhere rather than be told what to do and made to sit there arbitrarily so that some lady could have an Occupational Health And Safety Meltdown on my time. 

But you know what? I didn't. I haven't interracted with the faceaches, yet daughter is coming home and she doesn't want to go back any time soon. We have nice plans for this next week of holidays, and with this exam out of the way I can take a few days off to do things with her. I got home eventually and am now seated in my chair binge watching Downton Abbey and talking to you good people. And alls well that ends well.

Just please, please pray that I do not get on the train to go and get daughter tomorrow and get the same train driver. I can imagine being stuck for hours in the middle of nowhere because she saw a rabbit run across the track or her glasses got a bit foggy. or, as the lady next to me remarked today 'God, next we will have to stop for an hour because she found out one of the toilet seats hasn't been put down". Yes, I can just imagine it.

What a weekend.